Street-lamp.



No. 754,989.' PATENTED MAR. 22, 1904.

' W. J. FRYER.

STREET LAMP. APPLIOATION FILED OUT. 17. 1899.

N0 MODEL.

UNTTET) STATES Patented March 22, 1904.

PATENT @EFICE.

WILLIAM J. FRYER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STREET-LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 754,989, dated March 22, 1904.

Application filed October 1'7, 1899.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. FRYER, en gineer, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful System of Street-Lamps for Corners and Road Intersections, of which the following is a specification.

The improved system is intended for aid in designating streets and is located on the streetcorners.

I have discovered that a system embodying lamps of a certain form showing the name or number of the street or avenue on certain faces placed obliquely will in a great measure avoid the difficulties now experienced in recognizing the marks with suflicient promptness in approaching and finding a corner. I will use the term road to designate all kinds of thoroughfares. The advantage is very marked to the travelers on an avenue which shall have a trolley-railroad with cars traversing rapidly thereon.

The lamp hereinafterfully described presents three faces of glass arranged at obtuse angles with each other. I will place the name of the crossing street on the two obliquelyset faces and the name of the other, which I will assume to be an avenue, on the intermediate narrow face. The said unequally-sided lamp may flare, each face being wider at the top than at the bottom to about the extent adopted in ordinary street-lamps.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification and represent what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view showing my improved system as involving two lamps and their relations to an avenue and street crossing. The succeeding figures are on a larger scale. Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the lamps. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same. The succeeding figures show a modified form of lamp. Fig. 4: is a plan view, and Fig. 5 a side elevation.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures where they appear.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A is a road or avenue, and B a street crossing it. I will Serial No. 733,886. (No model.)

describe the invention as carrying .two of the lamps on diagonally opposite corners; but it will be understood that one only or all four may be thus equipped. The lamp-post C supports the lamp-frame D, and this carries the several faces E F G H, arranged, as shown, with two narrow faces F and H looking obliquely in the two directions along the avenue A, the latter being the one most traveled or the one in which it is most important to recognize the designation of the other street or avenue very promptly, and a broad face E and a narrower face G looking in opposite directions along the street B. The invention aids the travelers on the avenue by allowing the beveled faces F or H, according to which direction the passenger is approaching, to be seen and recognized fully as early as a corresponding face would be seen on an ordinary lamp which is rectangular in horizontal cross-section, and more especially to present the view of the respective faces F andH more fairly and continue it longer as the car approaches the crossing. Proportioned as shown the view of one-beveled face is presented to the passenger on the avenue quite down to the period when his eye is opposite the lamp, before reaching which location the other beveled face begins to come into view. It follows that my invention presents the number or name of the street to the eye of the traveler on the avenue at every point in the avenue. The invention thus greatly facilitates the recognition of a street in approaching and passing it on the avenue. The distortion of the lamp from the usual form to the extent shown does not introduce any serious difiiculty in any respect. The effect on the smaller amount of travel in the streetassumed to be Twentyninth street-is of but slight advantage. The faces presented are in the usual planes. Coming from one direction, the upper side in Fig. 1, the face thus presented is wider than usual and can show the name of the avenue more conspicuously than with the ordinary square lamp; but in approaching from the other direction the face presented is narrower than usual, which goes far to counterbalance. The rapid travel on the crossing street by those who are unacquai'nted will be slight. My invention provides about the ordinary facilities for them.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

It will be understood that the name or number of the street or avenue may be painted or otherwise placed direct on the glass, or it may,

if preferred, be so placed on separate strips of glass (not shown) lying close within the main glass at or near the top. 7

Figs. 4: and 5 show the invention carried out in a lamp the glass of which is blown and molded in a single piece. The lower portion is molded, as usual with this style of lamp; but the upper portion is molded angular, with the fiat faces proportioned and carrying the name or number the same as before described.

The degree of obliquity may be varied. I prefer about the amount indicated in Fig. 2, where the breadth of the faces F G H are equal and that of the face E is five-eighths greater. The obliquity should not be so great but that in traveling the avenue A on a crowded trolley-car or on a rapidly-moving carriage or bicycle the designation of the street B, here shown as Twenty-ninth street, can be clearly seen before the street is reached; but it should be sufificient to allow one oblique face or the other to be seen at a glance in all positions in approaching in the right direction on the street. In traveling that road-the street B the advantage is less than when traveling on the avenue A; but it is still appreciable. Considering only the uppermost lamp in Fig. 1, that shown in the larger figure in approaching one way from below in Figs. 1 and 2, the numbers of both roads are fairly well indicated. In approaching in the opposite direction from above in Figs. 1 and 2 only the broad face E is directly shown; but the other faces may by the transparency be seen reversed, and a little experience will allow such reading to be practicable. The broad face E may be swelled or otherwise varied. The most important features are the inclined faces F H and their relations to the two streets.

I claim as my invention- 1. A street-designating corner-lamp, comprising two parallel faces and two faces oblique to each other and to the parallel faces, at least one of the parallel faces having thereon a name designating a street, and both of the oblique faces having thereon a name designating a cross-street, substantially as described.

2. A street-designating corner-lamp, composed of a four-sided non-rotating lantern with two parallel faces and two faces oblique to each other and to the parallel faces, and a light centrally arranged in said lantern, the two oblique faces of the latter being in width equal to one and smaller than the other of the said parallel faces, and the distance between the said parallel faces being not less than half the width of the larger of said faces, substantially as described.

3. A street-designating corner-lamp, composed ,of a four-sided non-rotating lantern with two parallel faces and two faces oblique to each other and to the parallel faces, and a light centrally arranged in said lantern, the two oblique faces of the latter being in width equal to one and smaller than the other of the said parallel faces, the distance between the said parallel faces being not less than half the width of the larger of said faces, at least one of the parallel faces having thereon a name designating a street, and both of the oblique faces having thereon a name designating a cross-street, substantially as described.

4:. A street-designating corner-lamp, composed of a polyhedral non-rotating lantern with two parallel faces and two faces oblique to each other and to the parallel faces, and a light centrally arranged in said lantern, the two oblique faces of the latter being in width equal to one and smaller than the other of the said parallel faces, and the distance between the said parallel faces being not less than half the width of the larger of said faces, substantially as described.

5. A street-designating corner-lamp, composed of a polyhedral non-rotating lantern with two parallel faces and two faces oblique to each other and to the parallel faces, and a light centrally arranged in said lantern, the two oblique faces of the latter being in width equal to one and smaller than the other of the said parallel faces, the distance between the said parallel faces being not less than half the width of the larger of said faces, at least one of the parallel faces having thereon a name designating a street, and both of the oblique faces having thereon a name designating a cross-street, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the invention above set forth I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WM. J. FRYER. Witnesses:

J OHN D. CARBERRY, JAMEs B. CLAUTICE. 

